Mother Goddess Retreat Report

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The right place, the right time…

I would like to report to you that our recent Mother Goddess Retreat and Pilgrimage was a smashing success that exceeded all of our expectations, especially mine.

If one is able to do the right thing at the right time in the right place, it certainly increases the possibility of the right outcome.

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The Protocols of Knowledge

We proceeded from the theoretical discourse of our MasterClasses to the direct application of Sacred Speech in our quest for knowledge, especially self-knowledge.  We worked with the first protocols of knowledge (of the 128 protocols) over the initial days, so that when we make invocation, we may be heard.

Invocation

And we proceeded to make invocations, as we performed “havan,” vedic fire sacrifice; daily aratis, offering flickering lamps to our deities and gurus, chanting mantras, stotras, and bhajans; and some specific invocations and puja on specific days for specific deities.

Druvinka Puri also joined us, and perfect in her role as Pujari, made magnificent pujas always overflowing with flowers.

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Door Guardians

As planned, we enjoyed the coastline of Karnataka, and arrived at the Mookambika Temple on the eve of Diwali.  I made sure that before we entered Her space, we visit the forest spirits, Her guardian spirits, for permission.  At dusk we rang bells and offered incense.

We had our first darshan of Shri Mookambika that night, and I made final arrangements with the High Priests for our “Candika Havan” the following morning at six A.M.

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Vedic Sacrifice

Diwali day and night were a sequence of the Candika havan, pujas to Mookambika and the other Mother Goddesses, darshans, and a bath in the Souparnika River, known to have the 64 “healing herbs” in her waters.

If you look carefully at the accompanying photo of the sacrificial fire, taken at the completion of the Candika Havan, you will see a figure rising from the flames. I experience this as darshan of Shri Agni Ji, Himself, Lord of Fire. If you can’t see Him, squint your eyes.

Sign of Success

There is one most important, most significant, stand alone mark or sign of the success of a havan – RAIN.  And rain we got.  It rained for five days.  It never rains after Diwali.  It poured.

She was happy, our invocations had been heard, and She showered Her blessings.

Initiation

Back in Goa, the dhuni was rained out, so, in order to complete our work, we established a temporary temple which I felt was just perfect for completing the retreat as it gave me an opportunity to teach everyone the basics of setting up an altar, making a space ritually auspicious, and a simple way to make puja and invoke deities.  In front of our altar, with Guru Dattatreya, the Mother Goddess, and other benign spirits as witnesses, I initiated all into Sacred Speech, whispering the sacred syllables in their ears.

One of the reasons the retreat went so well was because of the work we’ve done in the MasterClass.  At the retreat, we spent time in several of the areas covered in the classes, and I can say, from my point of view, my teachings have never before reached their targets so well and directly.  We went through articulation and placement of syllables in a small fraction of the time it has taken in the past, giving us the opportunity to go deeper and cover more ground.